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Wildfire Credit Union, based in Saginaw, Mich., announced its move into a digital-first approach for members with the selection of Backbase, an international banking software developer.
According to the announcement on Thursday, Wildfire (more than $950 million in assets and 49,000 members) selected the Backbase Digital-First Banking platform "to drive their digital innovation and unify the member experience across all channels and touchpoints."
Wildfire Chief Technology Officer Mark Schuiling said, "Going forward, digital-first is a huge part of our strategy. We partnered with Backbase as a way to expand throughout Michigan and into other states without adding more physical branches, something that's been on our minds during the pandemic."
The statement said that the credit union has a "vision to build life-long relationships with their members and a mission to offer truly personal service," and that "it is critical for Wildfire to optimize the member experience and ensure that each engagement is personal and frictionless."
The process will allow the credit union to run on a single platform "with a unified architecture," which will allow Wildfire a "scalability it needs to cater to both retail and business members, their employees, and for both digital servicing and digital sales," the announcement said.
Backbase CEO Jouk Pleiter said, "Wildfire has a clear vision: Create outstanding member engagements across all touchpoints. And they know that having the right technology will be pivotal to achieve this, both now and into their future. Our modular architecture gives Wildfire a chance to operate free of any restrictions that come with legacy infrastructure and allows them to start their digital transformation journey that is core to their growth."
Schuiling continued, "Now, we are confident we will be able to provide our members with the fast, intuitive and seamless digital access that we strive to achieve."
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Michael Ogden
Editor-in-Chief at CU Times. To connect, email at [email protected]. As Editor-in-Chief of CU Times since 2016, Michael Ogden has led the editorial team in all aspects of content strategy and execution, including the creation of the publication’s exclusive and proprietary research database of the credit union industry’s economic landscape. Under Michael’s leadership, CU Times has successfully shifted to an all-digital editorial product with new focuses on the payments, fraud, lending and regulatory beats. Most recently, he introduced a data-focused editorial product for subscribers that breaks down credit union issues into hard data, allowing for a deeper and more factual narrative for readers. In 2024, he launched the "Shared Accounts With CU Times" podcast, which offers a fresh, inside-the-newsroom perspective through interviews with leaders from the credit union industry and the regulatory world. He dives into pressing credit union issues, while revealing the personalities working behind-the-scenes to push the credit union world forward. His background includes years as a radio and TV anchor/reporter and a public relations and digital/social media manager, where he covered the food and music industries, as well as cooperatives and credit unions. Over the years, he has launched numerous exclusive video and podcast series, including a successful series of interactive backstage interviews with musicians at music festivals, showcasing his social media and live streaming production skills.
